YOU asked ‘Are street parties a good way of celebrating the Royal wedding (The Issue, April 12)?’ John Tanner may call himself a republican, but how about living under Robert Mugabe (president), Laurent Gbagbo (ex-president), Colonel Gaddafi (failed dictator). Who needs a republican state?

A monarchy in England has brought stability and this should be a happy occasion. Although there will be some cost, the couple want a quiet wedding.

He says we could be spending the money in other ways, but is it not his Labour Party which “maxed out” the country’s credit card on hare-brained schemes over 13 years and brought this country to near-bankruptcy?

His party only left a note for the coalition: “Sorry, the money’s run out”, which speaks for itself. He and his Labour Party have their ‘republic’.

It is called “The Republic of Oxford”.

COLIN MANDERS, Cowleaze, Chinnor